


In Another Life

by wrath_of_dawn



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Drama, F/M, Reuniting, alternate storyline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22858708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrath_of_dawn/pseuds/wrath_of_dawn
Summary: Hey guys, long time no see, this is just a spur of the moment view on what I think it might have been like if Hak hadn't been there with Yona for the whole journey and if he found her along the way afterwards. They meet again in this story, just after the where the anime leaves off and the mange picks up the next arc.
Relationships: Son Hak/Yona
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	In Another Life

“So, it’s decided then. We next set out for the Fire Tribe’s lands.” Yona declared, her voice sure, as the rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well then, with that settled, I think I’m going to head to down to the river and bathe. It’s been a long day.” She said, as she began making her way down the long and narrow deer trail that lead towards the river.

“Ok, just don’t take too long, I’ll be getting dinner ready shortly!” Yun called after her as the rest of the dragons made themselves busy with replenishing camp supplies and cleaning up their belongings.

Picking her way down the path, Yona allowed herself to take a long, deep breath.

It seemed as though it had been a lifetime since she last had the chance to bathe. Too long for her liking. But then again, it seemed like lifetimes ago that she had met her companions, had begun this journey. . . had fled the castle.

No. She would not allow herself to go down that road and wallow in self pity. She could not change the past, no matter how painful; she could only continue to move forward as she was. It was time she let go of those nightmarish memories that haunted her. She needed to lock them away, and never let them out. They could fuel her fire, but she’d never again allow herself to be burned by those flames of hate and despair. 

Neither of those two things would help her people or the Kingdom of Kouka. 

She forced herself to stop thinking of such things however as she made it to the river bank and began to slip off her shoes. For now, she should at least enjoy the luxury of being clean and having a good night’s rest. Even if the water was cold, it would be nice to have it help soothe her aching muscles all the same.

She’d only just begun to untie the ribbon around her waist when she heard the sound of an animal’s footsteps coming through the trees behind her. 

Assuming it might be a deer, Yona quickly went to grab her bow which she had stashed behind a nearby boulder earlier in preparation for her nightly archery practice. If she managed to get some extra meat for their dinner that night and have some left over to dry as provisions for the road, Yun was sure to be elated. It wasn’t very often that they got the chance to hunt anything bigger than a rabbit or a few pheasants these days.

Bow in one hand and an arrow ready to be knocked in the other, she turned around and walked a few paces towards where she heard the footsteps last, careful to be as quiet as she could. 

Using tree roots and rocks as a way to cushion the sound of her steps, she slowly stalked her way closer downstream, to where she could still hear the vague sounds of movement. 

No more than ten paces away now.

As she came across a large yew bush, the last thing between her and her prey, she stopped and steeled herself for the shot. Knocking the arrow and slowly drawing back, she let herself breathe once, twice and then jumped out from behind the bush ready to let loose her arrow and bring home the kill. . . only to find herself frozen in place.

Instead of the large warm brown eyes of a doe, she found electric blue staring back at her with equal shock.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound, could not even breathe.

_ How? How was  _ he  _ here? How did he find her? WHY was he here? _

“Yona. . .?” came the hoarse voice from the man in front of her, the sound of it nearly shattering what remained of her heart.

A horse stood tied to the branch behind him, peacefully ripping away at the long grasses that grew down by the water where Hak was knelt down, water still dripping from his hair from having just washed his face.

He was the first to move, slowly rising to his feet and staggering a few short steps towards her seemingly in a daze, only to stop only to pause again when she still did not lower the bow, arrow still taunt with her arms now shaking from the strain.

“Princess? . . . It’s me, Hak. . . Wher-Where have you been this whole time? His eyes grew desperate and frantic as he took in the sight of her again and again, as if trying to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

“They said you were dead! That you fell off the cliffs in the Northern Forest. I had been away attending to duties as the general of the Wind Clan, and when I returned to the castle you were. . .” He trailed off, voice breaking slightly as he struggled to relive the moment he had come back only to discover the carnage and tragedy that had befallen the royal family in his absence.

Still, Yona did not lower her weapon.

“Did you know?” she said, no louder than a whisper, her own voice shaking and hoarse as emotion tightened her throat.

“Wha-?” he began but she cut him off, forcing her voice to be even and strong, even as she fell apart inside.

“What he was planning to do. Did you know? Were you involved in any way? I need to know. Now.”

Never could she have imagined pointing a weapon at him. Not at the man before her. But she had to know first. She had made her words firm and commanding, playing up at a strength she found wavering within her. If he had been involved, She didn’t know what she’d do. 

If she’d be able to do anything but fall apart. 

_ Not him too. Anything but that. _

Hak seemed stunned for a moment as he took in the dead serious look of her eyes. The look of pain lingering in them, begging him to answer her.

“Know, what? If you mean of the king’s passing, no one knows who the murderer is or how he snuck inside the palace walls, they’re still looking for them now under King Su-won’s orders.”

She shuddered slightly at the name. The  _ title _ .

“Princess, I’m so sorry,” he continued, “If I’d only been there that night, I could have protected you both. I know there is no excuse and no way you may ever be able to forgive me for leaving you both all alone when you needed me most. I-” 

Yona fell to her knees before he could finish, relaxing the bowstring as she went and dropping the weapon to the ground in a clatter once there was no danger of it firing.

He had not known. He had not been involved. She could trust his word. Surely, he could not have betrayed her as  _ he _ did that night.

No. 

Hak spoke the truth. 

She could see it in his eyes as he ran over to her, concern so genuine and written all over his face.

“Princess! Are you all right?!” he cried, reaching for her as he lowered himself down in front of her, doing his best to check her for any external wounds that she may have.

“I’m fine,” she breathed out before he could touch her, though his hands twitched. The need to hold her close and prove to himself that she was real was slowing eating away at his self-control. 

“Princess, I don’t want to push you in this state, but I have to ask; what are you doing here out with a bow and no shoes on? What happened to your hair? It’s all shorn! How have you been surviving out here these last few months?” he pushed, the stream of questions never seeming to stop as he reached towards her again, desperate to hold her close within his arms embrace after being worried sick for months.

“What happened that night when I was gone?” he said in a whisper, letting the silence draw heavy and thick between them as he watched her eyes grow distance and her face draw before finding his voice again.

“I knew you weren’t dead. Something inside me just couldn’t ever believe it was true, no matter what any of the officials or Su-won said. Like there was something inside me that I knew would have died with you, but still it lived inside me, so I knew you couldn’t really be gone. So I left the capitol and my position as General to try and find you, or at least what happened to you all those months back and bring those responsible to justice.”

Silver now lined the corners of his eyes as he did his best to hold back all the pain and heartache that had plagued him since he had first been told of her passing.

“You truly don’t know it was him, do you?” Yona managed to ask, half to herself, before sighing in relief and throwing herself into his arms.

She wouldn’t have been able to take it if Hak had been involved in any way. She couldn’t face losing both her childhood friends in one tragic night.

“No, I don’t,” He told her honestly, as his voice became confused and frantic, “But if you do, you have to tell me so they can be brought to justice. I know it may be painful to think back on, but if you know who it was, please, you have to try.” He begged her, doing his best to keep his voice as even and calm as it usually was. Holding her to his chest in a near dangerously tight grip he felt her bury her face into his neck, Her own tears now freely sliding down her cheeks and onto the shoulder of his robe.

“Su-won.” She whispered.

“What? What about him? Is there going to be an attack on him too?”

She managed a dry laugh in response to this, surprising even herself.

“He was the one to do it. Hak, Su-won betrayed us. He’s the one who killed my father that night. He tried to kill me too, but I managed to run and hide from the guards until I was able to escape out of the castle through my mother’s old private gardens that ran along the outer wall.” 

His heart seemed to stop beating at her words as he tried to process what she was telling him.

“No. No, that can’t be true, it was a horrific night for you that night, you must be mistaken somehow. The Su-won I know—"

“In his own words to me, ‘the Su-won you knew never existed’!” Her shout cut him off. “If you don’t believe me, here's your proof!” she pulled away from him, her composure lost as she cried with new vigor before ripping down the shoulder of her dress to reveal a long, white scar that ran along her shoulder and down her back.

Hak could only stare.

“You’d know his sword well enough to recognise this as something made by his blade.” She said, her voice shuddering but strong as she enunciated each word through bared teeth.

Still, no words seemed to be able to leave his mouth as he tentatively, lifted a hand to gently trace the white line with his finger. His eyes widening before turning glassy once more.

It killed Yona to watch as the remaining pieces of Hak’s heart seemed to shatter in front of her. As the truth began to sink in and tear him apart inside, like a poison beginning to run its course.

She let him touch her this time. Allowed him to trace the scar and confirm what he now understood to be true.

They were both silent for a time as Hak moved on from the thin line of ruined skin on her back that Su-won had left that night and began to investigate the other scars and marks she had gained during the months she had been gone.

Small cuts and fading bruises still littered her arms and legs from their time in Awa helping to stop the human trafficking incidents. Gently sliding his hands down her arms, he picked up her hands in his own. Felt the rough calluses that had begun to form with her nightly archery practice and the general hard work and chores she did throughout the day to help out their little group.

“Please,” He said, no longer able to look into her eyes, “Please, tell me everything.”

Before she could even get a single word out however, they were interrupted by the sound of someone calling her name.

Immediately, Hak sprung to his feet and stood in front of her as a man with green hair came walking out of the forest towards them.

“Yona-dear? I thought I heard you yelling just a short while ago and thought I’d come to check to make sure you were alrigh—” The man cut himself off as he looked up to see Hak, his Guan-dao already at the ready, and Yona still collapsed on the ground behind him, tear marks evident on her face and the shoulder of her dress still down and off to the side showing her scar.

In no more than a second after taking in the scene before him, the man swept up six daggers from someplace hidden within his clothing. He held them between his knuckles at the ready, the promise of imminent death in his eyes.

“Well this is a surprise. And here I was thinking most people still had the common decency to give a lady a bit of privacy. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave now though before things get ugly.”

Hak tensed, but before he could make a move, Yona managed to scramble to her feet and run between the two men, holding both her arms out.

“Stop! Jae-ha! Hak! Both of you, put your weapons away!” she shouted, but neither of them would relent just yet.

“Princess, who is this man, and how does he know your name?” Hak asked evenly, refusing to lower his weapons even an inch before he had answers.

The other man chuckled lightly, though the look in his eyes was still cold, “I could ask you the same thing. Who are you exactly? And what were you doing down here with Yona-dear, while she was trying to bathe no less?” The smile he offered was laced with venom. “Spying on a girl like that really isn’t beautiful, you know.” 

This comment did seem to provoke a reaction of sorts, but not the one the green-haired man had expected. Hak simply cocked his head.

“You were down here to bathe?” he asked, finally turning to shoot her a confused look. “What on earth were you doing with a bow and arrow then?” 

Yona only sighed in disbelief that  _ that _ was what finally got him to calm down before she spoke.

“It’s a long story, and one I am most willing to tell once you both put away your weapons. Hak, this is Jae-ha. He has been a travelling companion of mine for a while now and has helped keep me safe this whole time.”

She waited until she saw relax and put his weapon down into its familiar resting position at his side, before she turned to look at Jae-ha, who still seemed wary and confused about the whole situation.

“Jae-ha, this is Hak,” She explained calmly. “He’s one of my childhood friends from when I lived at the castle. He wasn’t there that night, and I’ve only just told him the truth of what happened. He’s no threat to me or any of us.” 

Recognition at the name he hadn’t quite caught earlier slowly fell across Jae-ha’s face as he remembered the stories of a young man Yona always mentioned whenever she spoke about her past.

“Ah, I see! So, you’re the famous Hak then?” he said, slipping his throwing knives back into the secret pockets of his clothes and reaching out his hand to Hak in greeting. 

A smile tried to twitch across his lips at Jae-ha’s words as Hak stretched out his own hand and they shook, and he gave Yona a sideways look.

“Famous, am I?” he asked her.

Yona only blushed in response and muttered out a quick ‘barely’ before going off to retrieve her bow and shoes leaving him to watch her go.

As the two men were left alone, however, Jae-ha took notice of the look on his face as he stared after the spot where she’d last stood. 

A sly smile began to creep its way across his own face as he put two and two together, between how often Yona spoke of this man and the look he gave her now.

“So. . .  _ friends, _ was it?” he asked, breaking the silence and drawing Hak’s attention.

He shot him a suspicious look. “Yes, as she said earlier, we’ve been friends since we were kids. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” Jae-ha feigned nonchalance as he continued, “It’s just, it's been awhile since I’ve seen a guy stare after a girl like that.” This time, it was hard to mistake the teasing tone in his voice. 

The insinuation seemed to strike a nerve with Hak. “I was told she was dead these last few months.” He ground out with a glare sharp enough a lesser man might have been sent back a few steps, even as he felt his face heat and Jae-ha’s grin grew.

“So I figured. Still, she talked a lot about you, you know. You certainly are special to her, at least.”

Before Hak could come up with any sort of response to that comment, Yona re-emerged from the trees and called them both over to follow her back to camp so she could introduce Hak to the others and explain everything that had happened since they had separated last.

{*****}

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, so I know there are a lot of other fics out there about ‘what if’s’ and ‘what might it have been like if Hak hadn’t been there with Yona the whole journey and this is just the kind of reaction/interaction that came to my mind when I thought about it so I thought I’d write it down and see how it turned out. Purely a spur of the moment kind of thing but we’ll see how long this lasts and where it goes for now.   
> I also wanted to apologise for not having updated in so long. Second Year of Uni has kinda taken up a lot of my time and mental capacity for creativity has been at an all time low ☹   
> Hopefully, once I’ve finished this semester I’ll have the chance to pick up the pace again and get some more stories going/continuing.   
> Thanks for reading anyway and hope you guys are all doing good!


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